Joseph Cartwright
Personal life :Joseph Francis Cartwright was named after Ben Cartwright's father. He has little memory of his mother and was under five when she died in a horsing accident, one he would mirror years later when Cochise falls at the ranch. :Little Joe received his nickname because compared to his brother Hoss he was little in comparison. :His brother Adam believes Joe to be lazy since he was supposed to bring a herd of cattle from the north end but is no where to be seen. When we are first introduced to Joe, he is practising fencing with an epee; a New Orleans monkey pick as Adam calls, it in the front room. A fight ensues when they both insult each others roots, Hoss breaks up the fight and Joe tells Adam that he rounded the herd of cattle in the early morning and didn't lose a single head. :Alphias Troy needs timber Ben Cartwright has on his land, but Ben refuses to sell any timber so he uses :Lotta Crabtree to lure one of the Cartwright's; who happens to be Joe, to Virginia City so he can trade son for timber. This angers Ben when he finds out Joe has gone alone to Virginia City with Lotta. He rides out with Adam and Hoss in pursuit of Joe. Troy's attempts to apprehend Joe seem fruitless as Joe is slippery than an eel manages to evade capture twice. At then end with an exasperated Ben Cartwright unable to locate his son finally finds Joe enjoying himself at the saloon with Lotta. As Joe is ordered to leave the saloon by Ben, he slaps Joe on his rear. :Mark Burdette kills and sells Paiute antelope at a hiked up price to hungry miners, he meets and befriends Joe at his butcher shop. Ben tells a miner that he can buy beef from his ranch for a cheaper price, taking away the money from Burdette. Burdettes thugs dress up as Paiutes and attacks Ben's ranch hands and the miner who bought the cows from Ben without his knowledge. Adam believes Burdette is behind the attacks, but Joe doesn't believe it, so he rides into Virginia City alone to find out for himself. Burdette uses his thug Thorne to attack Joe for siding with the indians, he is almost hung until Burdette supposedly rescues him. Burdette tells Joe that the Paiutes are to blame for the attacks and blames an indian called Tukwa who was killed, this angers Joe since he knew Tukwa and refuses to believe Tukwa had anything to do with the killings. Joe finds out that Glory; a saloon girl, has been taken and everything about Burdette is true and apologises to Adam. :Joe meets and falls in love with Julia Bulette, a very much mature woman. Ben doesn't agree with the liason since she's a woman of experience and Joe is just a young man. He vies for her attention along with a man called John Millain. With growing pressure from others Julia breaks off her relationship with Joe but Joe remains faithful to Julia and even nominates her for the first honarary member of Virginia City's fire company number two for her efforts with a fever epidemic amongst other things. He also asks her for her hand in marriage but she runs off upset. Early in the morning Joe finds out that Julia was robbed and knifed by a tall dark man, who Joe confirms to be John Millain. Joe is told that Julia wants to see Ben and him, to which Julia tells Ben she'll give him back his son and she tells Joe that she only went out with him for a laugh. Before Joe leaves he tells Julia he'll be back, but when he goes outside to get on his horse the lights in her room go out. :Joe courts danger by bringing a bolt of silk to a Paiute tribe Chief for his daughter Princess Saratucci to make a dress. Joe intends to take her to the dance and tells her where to meet him, at first the townfolk aren't happy that he's brought the daughter of a Indian Chief to a dance but soon forget once the music starts. Unfortunetly the merriment is cut short when Chief Winnemucca arrives at the dance and spots Joe kissing Saratucci. Ben arrives before things get out of hand and tells the Chief that the responsibility of punishment is his and his alone, the Chief agrees and leaves with his daughter. :Durwood Watkyns accidently tresspasses on Ponderosa land, he's tacking up posters for Adah Isaacs Menkin's Mazeppa play. He is caught by the three brothers and Durwood offers free vip tickets to the theatre to see but he's scared off by Hoss as he measures his head for a noose and prepares to hang him and drops everything he was carrying. Joe jumps off his horse and grabs the tickets and Adam asks him what he's doing, Joe pretends to pick up the noose rope as it's good quality rope. Later on that night Joe sneaks out of the house with Hoss to take advantage of the free tickets he picked up. When they arrive they bump into Adam who has been waiting for them as he knew they would be coming to the show. After the show the boys end up at the saloon, Durwood enters with a chance to win Adah's garter after which Adah follows in with Ben. Hoss spots Ben and warns his brothers who attempt to downplay their presence in the bar, Ben leaves the saloon with Adah after she's shaken when the person who catches her garter is an old lover. Next day Joe tells his brothers that Ben never came home and he stayed in a hotel drinking champange with Adah. Ben invites Adah to the Ponderosa for dinner the boys are apprehensive towards Adah, they are worried that she's not good enough for him because she's an actress. Later on that night after Adah's performance, Joe visits Adah dressed up with champange and flowers to woo's Adah. Outside Adah's past lover Regan sees Joe closing the blinds to her room, she starts to seduce Joe which freaks him out and leans in to kiss him, but at the last minute she throws him to the ground. Joe tells Adah he wanted to show his father what kind of woman she is, but she tells him that Ben was there to protect her from someone from her past. Joe apologises but is interrupted by a knock at the door Joe worried it's his father leaves via the window, instead it's Regan her old lover looking for Joe. Joe finds Hoss in the saloon and punches him in the face and tells him not to speak about Adah Menkin again, Joe leaves Hoss to nurse his chin and finish off his beer. Outside Joe begins to adjust the straps on Cochise when he is spotted by Regan who has come out of the hotel, he approaches Joe and asks him if he's a Cartwright, Joe confirms he is. Regan tells Joe his name and tells Joe to tell Ben when he asks, with that Joe confirms he will and turns his back on Regan. Regan thumps Joe on the neck and he falls to the ground, Regan picks him up only to punch him again. Joe rolls into an alley and Regan continues his attack Joe. Ben leaves Adah's room to check out of the hotel, as he does Hoss runs in carrying Joe in his arms, Joe is unresponsive. Ben tells Adam that Joe might be blinded from the attack, when Joe regains consciousness Ben reassures Joe and tells him not to speak, he asks Joe to blink twice if he can see him. Joe blinks twice through pained tears. : The Cartwright's chase off some men cutting down timber on their land on purpose, Joe chases one of the men but loses him by the creek. He hears a noise behind some bushes and tells who ever is behind it to come out or he'll shoot. A young partly dressed woman comes out and Joe tells her she's trespassing on their land, she tells him he must be a Cartwright which he acknowledges and then chides him for being one of the almighty Cartwright's and that the land they're on is her fathers, Joe deduces that the young woman is Amy Bishop. Amy tells Joe to leave so she can put her dress on, when she does so a frog jumps out near her feet and she screams, Joe runs over to her and holds her with instant attraction. He helps her zip up her dress, and he apologises for scaring her. They both part ways but before they leave Joe asks her if she comes to the creek often and at the same time, she confirms she does and then asks if he's Little Joe. Ben figures out that the Bishops were the ones responsible for the trees and decides to post his hands around the land to stop them. Joe argues that they only cut down one tree, but Ben counters by telling Joe that if you let them take one they'll then take more and more until there's nothing left. Joe returns to the creek pretending to look for a bull calf and meets Amy there who is dipping her toes, she asks him to stay. She tells Joe that her father wouldn't approve of their relationship, Joe tells Amy that he questioned his father the other night due to the fact that he met her she tells him the same thing. Later that evening Hoss visits Joe in his room, he's worried that Joe keeps skipping supper, and tells him that somethings wrong with him and Ben is worried too. Hoss tells Joe not to bottle things up and Joe reassures Hoss that everything will be alright. The next day the Bishop's set up camp and start cutting down trees on Ponderosa land, Ben wonders where Joe is and Adam tells Ben he's rounding up strays, he's actually at the creek with Amy again. Amy is reading Shakespere to Joe but Joe is busy staring at Amy to notice, he tells Amy that if either of their fathers disagree to their relationship then they'll both run away and get married and kiss. Unfortunately for Joe he's spotted by Pete Jessup one of the Bishops men. When Ben arrives at the camp his ranch hand Trump kills the camp cook and Ben dismisses him, Trump attacks Ben and Hoss intervenes. Joe witnesses the fight and arrives once Hoss has taken care of Trump, Joe tells Ben that he thought there weren't going to be any more killings and shouts at him. Ben asks Joe what's wrong with him and Joe tells him that he wouldn't understand, he tells Ben that he's going to take the cook back to his father who is at the Bishop ranch. Ben forbids him to, and Joe draws a gun on Ben. All Ben want's to know is why, and Joe tells him that killing rubs off on all of them and puts his gun away. Joe tells Ben he can't tell him what's the matter and tells Joe to do whatever it is he wants to do. Joe approaches the Bishop ranch and Jessup sees Joe coming towards them and opens fire hitting the dirt in front of Cochise, Amy's father Luthur Bishop comes out and asks him what happened. Joe apologises for the cook and tells him Trump killed him. Luther tells Joe he has a score to settle with Ben since one of his men was shot in cold blood, Joe tells Luther it wasn't anyone from the Ponderosa and if it was his father fault he would own up to it not hide it. Jessup tells Joe next time he won't miss Joe tells him he can try now. Jessup tells Joe that his brother was killed by Ponderosa men, Joe counters saying his death was a fair fight. Jessup tells Joe not to see Amy anymore or he'll kill him in front of her, he goes for his gun but Joe is faster, Amy runs out calling Joe. Luther tells Jessup to get back to work, then tells Amy to get back in the house and tells he should kill him but since he bought the cook back he'll let him go and tells him never to come back and trespass on their land. Joe returns home with a relieved Ben waiting for him, Joe tells Ben it's harder to speak to him when he's not a kid anymore. Joe asks him if the land means so much to him and Ben agrees but counters that it's not his whole life. He asks Joe what he couldn't tell him before, Joe tells Ben about the time he went to the creek to look for Bishops men and tells him that he met Amy Bishop there and he loves her. Ben understands now the reason for his behaviour and Joe tells him that he intends to marry her. Ben tells Joe to he would never hold his land above his sons and he'd rather destroy the Ponderosa, Joe wishes Luther Bishop thought the same way. : The next morning Ben and the boys head over to a camp where Luther is, and Ben tells Luther that he wasn't responsible for the deaths of Bishops men and that the horses he saw were ones stolen from him, as they talk Jessup sneaks out of camp. Luther tells Ben he's not happy with Joe and Amy because Amy is young and Ben tells Luther to let her make up her own mind, Luther agrees because he believes that Amy doesn't want to leave him and tells Joe to go get her at the house. Jessup arrives at the Bishop ranch and tells Amy that the war between the Cartwrights are heating up and will end up in bloodshed. He tells Amy that he's been waiting for Amy to grow up and makes his advances towards her, Amy scratches him and runs to the barn, Jessup catches up to her and she screams. Joe arriving at the ranch hears Amy screaming and finds Jessup abusing her. A fight ensues and Jessup uses anything to try and beat Joe from throwing chains to poles, stools, forks and finally he throws a pickfork at Joe but he ducks in time. Jessup falls on Joes gun he took off before the fight and starts shooting at Joe. Joe hides behind a stall and picks up a pole, when Jessups hand is seen coming over the stall Joe jumps up and stabs Jessup in the chest killing him. Joe looks over at Amy who has a pitchfork in her side, he runs over to her and pulls it out. After the Doctor has seen her, he tells Joe she wants to see him. The Doctor has told Amy she's going to be ok, and Joe tells her they'll be happy together by the creek as she speaks about building a house but stops in mid-sentence, Joe starts to cry. He leaves the room and tells everyone outside that she told him it could never be, a Cartwright and a Bishop. : :Joe is in town with his family buying supplies. Hoss asks Joe for some money for sweets, as they leave the shop Ben orders Joe to get his hair cut since it's been three months since the last one. Adam stays as well and as they start walking a buckboard arrives in town with Flint Johnson in the back whom Adam knows. It turns out that some men were seen leaving her cabin and they want to send a posse out to catch them, Adam and Joe agree to go along. Paiute Scroggs is hired to track the killers. Appearances :See Appearances by Joseph Cartwright Joseph Francis Cartwright "Little Joe" was the only Cartwright born on the Ponderosa, unlike his other family members. He was the third biological son of Ben Cartwright and at his side is his sister Jillian May Franklin as Jillian Cartwright. She is Ben's fourth daughter and she loves to follow her brother Joe. Joe is shown as sneaky, smart, and cute. He often pulls Hoss into his schemes. He gets into trouble more often than not and is usually rescued by Jillian. Joe is widely known as a ladies man, although many of his romances never work out. Joe enjoys reading detective novels and loves to laugh, which is contagious to anyone near him. His trademark horse, Cochise, often fondly called Cooch, is a black and white pinto. Joe is very fond of his horse. Joe is not known to back away from a fight or a challenge and his hot temper sometimes takes over from good sense. However he seems able to recover from any beating or bullet wound with nary a scratch. Category:Characters Category:Main characters Category:Male characters Category:Cartwright family Category:American characters Category:French characters